MACON, Ga.- Savannah State University led by 10 points after the first quarter, but could not hold off Fort Valley State as they rallied with 41 unanswered points in a 41-10 victory in the 8th Music City Classic played at Henderson Stadium, before a crowd of 4,182.

It was the 50th time the teams have met and the Wildcats now have a 35-11-4 series lead.

SSU scored all their points in the opening quarter as Cedric Chambers returned a interception 21 yards for a touchdown with 10:42 on the clock and Derek Williams kicked a 43 yard field goal with 4:36 remaining.

The Wildcats cut their deficit to 10-6 with a pair of field goals from Justin Rosenbaum from 29 and 27 yards.

With 2:36 left in the half, Dominique Patterson returned a interception 48 yards for a touchdown to give FVSU a 13-10 lead.

Early in the third quarter Nicholas Stephens threw a 45 yard touchdown pass to Tony Davis for a 20-10 edge and Aaron Courtney scored on a two yard run with 7:18 on the clock to widen the Wildcat lead to 27-10.

Tony Reid threw a seven yard scoring pass to Demario Barber with 10:10 left in the fourth and Patterson returned a 44 yard interception for a touchdown with 44 seconds to cap the scoring.

FVSU (1-1) took advantage of four Savannah State mistakes and turned them into 24 points with one field goal and three touchdowns.

The Tigers had 131 yards of offense with 60 rushing and 71 passing.

AJ DeFilippis completed 7 of 29 passes for 71 yards but was intercepted three times and sacked three times. Justin Babb ran 14 times for 65 yards and Brian Lackey hauled in three passes for 54 yards.

J. Vince Cochran led the Tiger defense with 12 tackles.

FVSU put together 345 yards of offense but made six penalties for 96 yards.

Denzel Wesley ran for 74 yards, Stephens passed for 129 yards and a touchdown while Davis had 10 receptions for 107 yards and a touchdown.

Courtney Daniel led the FVSU defense with seven tackles.